Current Events > Norway to purchase 54 German tanks, will give their old shitty ones to Ukraine.

(+) Yeah! (+)

Norway will buy 54 new generation Leopard 2 tanks to replace its older versions of the same model, and has an option for 18 others, the government announced on Friday.

Planned for several years, the order will enable Oslo to renew its fleet of 36 ageing Leopard 2A4 tanks, some of which are to be donated to Ukraine.

The Leopard 2A7 order with German defence manufacturer Krauss-Maffei Wegmann is part of a 19.7 billion kroner ($1.96 billion) defence allocation

already adopted by parliament. The exact cost of the tanks was not specified. There is an option for 18 more new Leopard 2A7s.

"We find ourselves ... in one of the most difficult security situations since World War II", Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store told reporters at the Rena military base.

"We have a serious situation due to the Russian invasion (of Ukraine). I call this a new 'Iron Curtain'", he said.

Norway had been hesitating between the latest generation Leopard tank and the South Korean K2 Black Panther. The choice of Leopards will enable the Scandinavian country to align itself with its Nordic neighbours -- including Sweden and Finland which are vying to join Norway in NATO -- and Germany, the government said.

The first deliveries are expected as of 2026 and will run until 2031. Only 36 of the 52 Leopards Norway bought from the Netherlands in 2001 are

still in service. Oslo announced in late January that it would donate some of those tanks to Ukraine but did not specify exactly how many nor when they would be delivered.

The head of Norway's armed forces, Eirik Kristoffersen, has previously expressed his opposition to the purchase of new tanks, saying he would prefer to spend the money on the acquisition of other weapons such as missiles and long-range shells.

Full Article: https://www.thelocal.no/20230203/norway-to-purchase-54-new-generation-leopard-2-tanks

https://i.imgur.com/IAlkIzC.jpg

Russian invading Ukraine
Europe flexing what they have
China licking its lips at Taiwan
Israel and Palestine doing their thing
Syria, Iran and Afghanistan in a state that can charitably be described as "Iffy"
Every nuclear power fondling their nukes

Feels like the whole planet is gearing up for WW3 :/

Why is humanity so stupid?

Old shitty tanks still probably better than what Russia is bringing to the table

Kakapo posted...

Old shitty tanks still probably better than what Russia is bringing to the table

lol

Did you see that clip of that Russian tank smacking 5 of his own men with the gun barrel because the operator can't pilot it?

UnfairRepresent posted...

lol

Did you see that clip of that Russian tank smacking 5 of his own men with the gun barrel because the operator can't pilot it?

Ive tried to avoid as much of the schadenfreude/prurient videos as much as possible, but I have no doubt.

Putijns guilty of crimes against humanity. Primarily Ukraine, but also his own people.

I was gonna say, Norway probably hasn't gotten much mileage out of those. When I was in the Army, we had a bunch of new trucks in the motor pool, but also had some 2.5s from Vietnam that had under 30,000 miles on them and functioned just fine, just clunky. These are probably similar, old, but functional, just not user friendly like more modern stuff.

i thought tanks are useless now because I thought there are weapons by now that would just destroy these huge walking targets from a mile away.

Is TC going to donate new shitty tanks?

accord posted...

i thought tanks are useless now because I thought there are weapons by now that would just destroy these huge walking targets from a mile away.

Kinda yeah

This is why Eirik Kristoffersen wants missiles and long range weapons.

This is why Ukraine is begging for planes.

Tanks are ols news in war. Doesn't mean they aren't useful though.

MabusIncarnate posted...

I was gonna say, Norway probably hasn't gotten much mileage out of those. When I was in the Army, we had a bunch of new trucks in the motor pool, but also had some 2.5s from Vietnam that had under 30,000 miles on them and functioned just fine, just clunky. These are probably similar, old, but functional, just not user friendly like more modern stuff.

You're gonna have to type out deuce and a half if you expect anyone to read it correctly

Tanks are still super useful weapons: they're fast, durable, heavy weapons platforms that can traverse terrain wheeled vehicles might struggle with. They just need to work more closely with infantry screens than they did in, say...WW2. Having more/better tanks is absolutely a big advantage in a ground war.

ElatedVenusaur posted...

Tanks are still super useful weapons: they're fast, durable, heavy weapons platforms that can traverse terrain wheeled vehicles might struggle with. They just need to work more closely with infantry screens than they did in, say...WW2. Having more/better tanks is absolutely a big advantage in a ground war.

You need a asterix the size of Pluto on this

*If you have air superiority

Otherwise you're just target practice for planes, drones and long ranged missiles.

UnfairRepresent posted...

Feels like the whole planet is gearing up for WW3 :/

No.

UnfairRepresent posted...

You need a asterix the size of Pluto on this

*If you have air superiority

Otherwise you're just target practice for planes, drones and long ranged missiles.

Air power isn't much of a factor in Ukraine these days, because the Ukrainians have a ton of AA and the Russians don't have a ton of capacity to replace/maintain their air power. Or much in the way of smart munitions left.
Of course Ukraine would like that to be their advantage rather than a stalemate, but they've also been begging for tanks.

UnholyMudcrab posted...

No.

Since the Russians adopted the letter Z as their present-day swastika and Ukrainians call the Russian soldiers zombies, I suppose it is more like World War Z.

Tanks can help Ukraine retake ground occupied by filthy fucking Ryssland.

ElatedVenusaur posted...

Air power isn't much of a factor in Ukraine these days, because the Ukrainians have a ton of AA and the Russians don't have a ton of capacity to replace their air power. Or much in the way of smart munitions.
Of course Ukraine would like that to be their advantage rather than a stalemate, but they've also been begging for tanks.

This is plainly completely false

Ukraine has been begging for more planes for literally 11 months now and are still begging for them. Canada just got in trouble for saying the US/Poland should give them planes

The ONLY reason Russia's invasion was pushed back and failed a year ago was because they completely failed to get air superiority

The reason why Ukraine's counter attack stalled was because Russia has air superiority in the annexed land.

Dismissing that as "Nah doesn't matter bro!" is just anti-reality.

Ukraine and Russia having missiles/targeting systems that can hit really long distances is useful for sure, but it doesn't negate air superiority at all.

Air superiority has been the deciding factor of the entire war so far and Ukraine still believes that is not going to change.

And he was never seen again

Bumping a topic just to misgender someone is not a good look